Peter did not take it easy with me.
Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:5-7)
That first bit. OK, well first of all there’s that last bit about knowing that He cares for us so we can cast our cares on Him. I’ve heard that often and it is a reassuring truth of life that whenever times get tricky and there are worries, concerns or anxieties we can indeed throw them on the Lord and leave them there.
Yet even that exercise requires a degree of humility. It’s weird isn’t it. There’s a concern. It’s really bothering me. It’s really getting to me. I’m getting anxious over it and it’s coming out in various niggles, etc. Yet ask me to let go of it, and for some bizarre reason I’m defensive at the notion. It’s bad enough having the worry, then I have to open up about it? Well that can be something I’m not too eager to do. But once I have opened up about it, then I’m to not just ‘let it go’ but actively hand it over … not just hand it over … throw the whole thing to the Father. Get rid of it. Chuck it over to Him and leave it in His hands.
In essence give up control and let the loving Father control it. It’s a massive task because in that process I confess that I am not able to handle it – I confess my weakness as well as my concern. I confess my inadequacy as well as my anxiety. In that act I say to the Father – be my everything in this situation as I cast it on you. That act and desire requires a great deal of humility.
There’s that. Oh but there’s more.
It’s all because of that first bit. It flows from a sequence of instructions Peter gives to the community about how they engage with each other and the elders. He finishes it off with a corporate call to clothing in humility. Humility to each other.
OK so that bit about God caring for me is good to know. At least He is unseen. So I can make some sort of effort to throw my anxieties to Him and that will be fine – but the bit about humility to each other? Being humble before the Almighty is something that can at least be rationally worked out, but humility to each other? What’s that? Humble to that woman who barely smiles and hardly greets anyone and doesn’t make time for me? What’s that? Humble to that brother who is always talking about his job – on and on and on as though he has nothing else to talk about? I can barely tolerate him and you want me to be humble to him? What’s that? For real?
For real.
He doesn’t ask us to do something that hasn’t been exhibited. That’s Peter talking, Peter who learnt to be humble by Jesus on many an occasion. So by the time he’s writing this, he’s a regular recipient of the call to be humble.
Helpfully the two parts are connected. Your relationship with God is one where you learn humility and you get to exercise that humility you learn in your relationship with others. As long as you see the thread being from the holy example seeping into the regular interaction, you can get into the flow. As long as we see God’s response to humility then it encourages us in the vertical and the horizontal.
It’s also an action for which we are responsible. I am responsible for the humbling. I can do it through Him who gives me the strength to do it – which means I can do it.
It is particularly challenging when the drive within is for such self-gratification that it’s not difficult to put my own needs above others. It is even more challenging because pointers and hints and blatantly expressed sentiments in the world around me nudge me to say that that drive within is perfectly natural and should be entertained.
It is a challenge – but one we get to address every day and see if God will be faithful to His Word. Not in the quick positive response of affirmation, but in the acknowledgement of when we do it we know He sees and gives grace at the right time.
Peter did not take it easy with me – but that was for my good, so that I wouldn’t take it easy and miss out of the grace that comes at the right time if I can exercise vertical and horizontal humility.
Thanks Peter.
(Photo by William Stitt on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
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